rebuilding (with or without you)
by uncontained hybrid
Summary: After any years away from the magical community, Cho meets an old friend, who inspires her to move on from what she lost. / For Annalisse.


Life had never been easy for Cho Chang. Losing your boyfriend at just sixteen, while feeling ridiculously confused about who you were, all while the world you knew was being ripped apart at the seams, and almost all of your friends tiptoed around you like you were shattered glass (maybe you were).

Her friends and her classmates were caught up in the rush, their youthful excitement making them far too happy, too eager to fight in a war. Cho believed in their cause, but she would've loved to have no part in the war, but she couldn't help it. They had taken her boyfriend, her lover, and now this war was hers just as much as it was to the rest of the magical community.

But while her boyfriend had her loyalty even in his afterlife, Cho's family – her parents – probably deserved her loyalty as well. But they told her to keep her head down, keep quiet, obey – all of the things she couldn't do, much as she wished she had that option.

So she joined a rebellion – against the will of her parents, and even the more sensible voices in her head. But while she was doing it all, assisting Dumbledore's Army in their efforts, even from outside of Hogwarts, she felt as if she were suffocating, stifled by the entire wizarding world. She was supposed to have left Hogwarts last year, left its rigid routines for her own freedom. Yet, she still found herself travelling into Hogwarts through secret passages, sneaking around past curfew in the cover of darkness. All she wanted was a chance to get out, take her own path. So she did.

She fought tooth and nail in the battle, and she survived. And that made her lucky. But she couldn't stick around any longer. She didn't want to have to watch her friends, her comrades, be lowered into a cold hard grave in the ground. She couldn't face watching the wizarding world pick up the pieces. So, with the money she had saved, she set off travelling the world as a Muggle.

* * *

><p>Several years later, several off-the-books jobs later, she still wasn't sure where she stood. She hadn't stayed still for years; hadn't stayed in the same place longer than three or four months since she was seventeen.<p>

Currently, she was working as a maid in a slightly run-down bed and breakfast in Northern California. But she had given the owner notice and she was going off to India in three weeks' time. Always in search of something new, something to wow her, make her feel free, until she'd seen all she felt she wanted to, and she took off yet again.

She sighed as she walked into the office. "That family is a nightmare, honestly."

Her manager, Tina, grinned. "No one here's gonna argue with that."

"At least the husband tips nicely," Cho shrugged. "Never gonna complain about extra money."

"It'll serve you nicely where you're headed next, eh?" Tina replied.

"I guess. I have no idea how long I'll be in India for."

"Sometimes I feel like you act like one of those people in the movies. Y'know, throwing a dart at a world map, travelling to wherever it hits, all funded by the money coming out of daddy's bank account."

Cho was suddenly furious. "You seriously think I'm doing this all out of Daddy's pocket?" she snorted.

Tina's face turned suddenly serious. "That's not what I meant, sweetie. If you were travelling out of Daddy's pocket, you wouldn't have to be working. And you definitely wouldn't be as good at your job as you are."

Too annoyed to notice Tina's compliment, Cho just shook her head sadly. "I.. I can't. You have no idea."

She scraped her chair back, away from the table and walked out. She kept on walking, out of the bed and breakfast, and down to the beach – the coast seemed to call to her, no matter where she was.

She walked along the sand, letting the waves roll up and crash over her ankles, her thoughts racing a mile a minute. _What would've happened had I stayed, she wondered, what is the_ – her train of thought was cut off by the sound of someone calling her name.

"Cho!" Cho turned around to see a pale, blonde-haired woman waving to her from a few yards away.

Cho's eyes widened in disbelief. The woman hurried towards her. "How are you? I thought maybe the Wrackspurts -

"Luna!" Cho interrupted her. "What are you doing here?"

"The Smerls swim past the coast of California at this time every year. It's part of their migration."

"The Smerls?"

"A fish, lesser known cousin of the shrake."

Cho laughed. "God, I've missed you."

Luna smiled. "How are you?"

Cho shrugged. "Eh, I'm okay. Doing better."

"It's hard, isn't it?"

Cho nodded. On an impulse, she asked, "Do you want to come with me to dinner tonight?"

Luna didn't bat an eyelash. "Alright. Where?"

"There's a nice seafood restaurant near here. I'll meet you up on the promenade at six thirty?"

"Sounds good."

* * *

><p>At six twenty-five, Cho and Luna met each other on the promenade, alike in that they were both early birds. The two walked to dinner and sat down to order their meal.<p>

"So, how was your day?" Luna asked Cho.

"It was alright. Got in a bit of a fight with my manager at work. I think I overreacted."

Luna nodded. "You always did have a bit of a silver tongue at times."

Cho inclined her head slightly. "I won't deny that," she acknowledged.

"You've been out of contact for years. Don't tell me you've been working here all that time."

"Working all that time, yes. Here, definitely not. I've been all over the world, to be honest." Cho laughed. "The most interesting experience was probably being accused of stealing something over in Thailand. They were sure I was a criminal, let me tell you."

"If only they knew."

Cho half-smiled. "God, that would've been a laugh if it were on some sort of criminal record of mine. Imagine the predicament I'd be in, trying to explain Hogwarts to Muggle police."

Luna giggled. "Might give you a taste of what it's like to be me, hey?"

Cho laughed and nodded. "At least I'm talking about real things," she teased.

"Hey!" Luna swatted Cho's palm with her serviette.

"You know it's true," whispered Cho cheekily.

The two continued their teasing, cheeky banter into the night, nostalgia abundant, and when Cho walked Luna back to her hotel, she felt for the first time in years that she belonged. Like rain falling to earth after a drought, she felt reinvigorated, blissful, like maybe her efforts over the past few years had been leading up to this point. She felt confident, like she could take on the world, and she could do it all on her own, with only the memories and the feelings of nostalgia to fuel the next leg of her journey.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Written for the Hunger Games Competition, using the prompts petrichor, fury, silver tongue, "I...can't", and crime. _

_Also for Lissy, as part of GGE. I love you so much, Lis. *cuddles*_


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